Today's cuppa: raspberry ceylon tea
Just dropping in with a quick link to an edited version of my feature story on ABC's remake of the short-lived but critically acclaimed romantic comedy-drama "Cupid," starring Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson.
And while we're at it, here's a little more from Cannavale, courtesy of my own syndicated "Inside TV" column for this week:
JUST A
HARD-WORKING GUY WITH WINGS ... Bobby Cannavale is not exactly a TV novice. He
had short stints in several TV series -- even winning an Emmy Award for his
recurring role on "Will & Grace," and was a regular on the NBC police drama
"Third Watch."
But he recently
finished filming eight episodes of the new ABC comedy-drama "Cupid," premiering
March 31, and it wiped him out.
"If we're lucky
enough to come back," Cannavale says, "it's a real double-edged sword. I've
never quite done this kind of a schedule before, ever. I've always been
involved in ensembles. This is the first time I've been in anything resembling
a part this big. You're pretty much there every day, 15-hour days.
"I can say I
had a great time doing it. I was really never tired. I was really energized by
playing this part, but again, it was only seven episodes.
"I don't know
how the hell we'll do 22. I wouldn't be complaining -- we'll do it -- but at the
end of seven, it felt like a lot more than that.
"But to come in
every day and do a one-hour comedy is really a lot of fun, so I'm glad that I'm
not on a procedural, and I'm on a show like this."
In "Cupid" --
writer Rob Thomas' remake of his short-lived 1998 ABC series by the same name --
Cannavale plays Trevor Pierce, who announces that he is really the Roman god
Cupid. And, if he doesn't unite 100 couples, he can't return to his home on Mount Olympus.
Of course, he's
thought to be crazy, but judged harmless and released into the care of a
psychiatrist (Sarah Paulson) who has a rather more pragmatic view of romance
than Trevor, who relies on instant chemistry.
Apparently,
Cannavale didn't even have to go through the normal process to get the part.
"Rob found out
that we had a mutual friend. I love when things happen like that, when it
doesn't come through an agent. My friend called me and said, 'My friend Rob
Thomas wants to talk to you.' I said, 'OK.' That's how it happened.
"And Rob loved
(my movie) 'The Station Agent.' He said he wanted to do the same sort of
quality. I said, 'Yeah, I can do that.'"
Cannavale also
found more to love about "Cupid" than just working with a fan of "The Station
Agent."
"This show has
an element to it that I very much responded to," Cannavale says. "It was less
about matching those hundred couples than it was about Trevor and Claire. I
really love how that relationship tracks through the series.
"The writers
can write really clever ways of matching up people and matching up opposites,
doing things like a jewel thief and his probation officer. We do different, fun
things like that.
"But a mature
relationship, like the one between Trevor and Claire, it's complicated. I think
Rob is real adept at parsing that out, little by little, the way a relationship
really is. It needs to build."
Asked if he is
romantic or a cynic about love, Cannavale says, "I'm just not set in my ways. I
tend not to be set in stone about anything. I've got to remain open.
"Not to get
corny about it, but it's what Trevor says about taking a step into the great
unknown. That's what acting is for me. I wanted to be an actor ever since I was
a little kid.
"It was always
about doing something that I was afraid of doing, that I didn't know if I could
do."
He has one wish
for Trevor that may or may not be fulfilled.
"I want one
moment, where Trevor really does have his back to the wall, and he's caught in
a compromising position.
"He makes a
really strained face, and these two little wings pop out of his back, but
they're not quite big enough to fly him away. If the show goes long enough,
anything can happen."
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